The Top 10 Marketing Tips for Gyms

With increasing competition and the rise in popularity of the 24/7 gyms, competition has never been more intensive.

We’ve sourced the Top 10 Marketing Tips for Gyms suggestion from “Marketing for Gyms” and summarised their information below.

1. Hire great staff, and encourage them to interact with members

Recommendations

• Hire extroverts
• Train your reception staff to greet and farewell each member by name. It takes two seconds to look at the name as it is being scanned and say “Thanks Brad, have a great workout”.
• Gym staff needs to be trained to greet members by name and engage in conversation. Train your staff to get involved with programs, assessments, encourage variety with training and keep members motivated.
• Introducing new members to other staff and current members is a great way to make a new member feel more comfortable and less isolated, and take an interest in their progress.

2. Offer a free 5 visit pass

Recommendations

• Offer the free visit pass when people come into the centre for the first time.
  • Ensure this process is simple and efficient, don’t keep them waiting too long as this may create frustration. At the same time, allow sufficient time to give them a tour of the facility.
• Create a free visit pass banner and opt-in form on the home page of your website.
  • Ensure this is the first thing your customers see when they land on the page. Visitors should be able to simply enter their name, email and phone number to receive the free pass instantly.
  • The opt-in form allows you create long-lasting relationships by adding value, providing free tips and useful information.

3. Member referral program (MRP)

Recommendations

• Create a “refer a friend” form on your website or Facebook page.

4. Invest in a modern website

Recommendations

• Phone number on top right hand corner on every page
• Header design and logo to match your clubs branding and colours
• Image slideshow on the home page to showcase some of your main facilities
• Opt-in form offering a Free 5 Visit Pass in the top right hand corner under phone number of the home page
• Facilities tab with a list of the key programs and descriptions for each (along with images)
• Group Fitness timetable showing a current list of classes, times and descriptions (make it easy to open in PDF format and also easy to print)
• Testimonials from happy members (combination of short videos with written testimonials and profile images)
• A page including key staff profile pictures and a brief bio for each
• Contact Page with phone number, email address, contact form, image of facility and embedded Google map so people can easily find you.

5. Create a Facebook Page

Recommendations

Create a custom Facebook page to take your marketing efforts to a whole new level.Instead of landing on the fan page which does not add value or provide information about the facilities.

Benefits

• You can add a free 5 visit page opt-in form, multiple pages, slideshow and embed videos to provide an amazing first impression and provide incredible value to your fans.
• The opt-in page allows you to capture your prospects information so you can follow up with a quick phone call and auto-responder email series.

6. Exit Survey for cancelled members

Questions to include:

• How long have you been a member?
• Reason for cancelling? (moving house, changing gyms, can’t afford it, not enough time, family, etc)
• How would you rate the staff? (include categories for knowledge, friendliness, approachability, availability, etc and rate 1 to 5)
• How would you rate the facilities? (cleanliness, range of equipment, space, car park, etc and rate 1 to 5)
• Any other comments or feedback

Recommendations

Go through the comments and take the feedback on board. As clients have a different perspective from you and your staff, they can highlight areas of improvements. Even the simplest of changes can have a big impact on client retention.

7. Weekly fitness tips

Recommendations

• Create a rotating roster where each staff memberis required to add content once per month. If you have 4 instructors, you have enough content to post an article or video every week.
• Encourage members to comment, ask questions, provide feedback, and request feedback for future topics.
• Archive your videos and articles on your website and fan page so future prospects can search through the database of content.
• Topics of interest:
• Demonstrate new exercises, nutrition tips, healthy recipes, motivation, goal setting etc.

8. Run Monthly Member challenges

Recommendations

• Offer prizes to 1st, 2nd and 3rd in categories
  • Prizes could include free drink bottles, t-shirts, membership discounts etc.
• Ideas for member challenge
  • 5 Minute Rowing Competition (maximum distance covered in 5 minutes)
  • 3km Treadmill Time Trial (best time for 3km)
  • 30 Days of Fitness (members receive cards and receive points for each workout during the 30 days. 10 points for weights, 10 points for cardio, 10 points for group fitness class. You can also offer bonus points for classes that you want to boost attendance or new classes on the timetable – 20 points)
  • Pyramid Cardio Challenge Time Trial (50 Squats, 40 TRX Rows, 1km Rowing, 2km Bike, 30 Push ups)
  • Triathlon Challenge (500m rowing, 3km bike, 1500m run)
  • Other ideas – Monthly beep tests, blood pressure checks, running groups, boot camps etc

Don’t forget about your staff. You could also run a staff leaderboard to create a sense of camaraderie, increasing satisfaction and staff retention.

9. Organise regular social events

Social events can make a difference to the culture and feeling at a gym. It is a great way for staff members to connect on a different level outside the gym environment. By having members feeling connected to your centre socially, you may improve your retention rate dramatically.

Recommendations

• To increase attendance:
  • Encourage staff to promote the event by speaking to members to increase attendance
  • Offer prizes, give always, special offers, games and activities
• An annual Christmas Part is essential as a minimum. You could put on a BBQ and get donations of bread and sausages from the local butcher.
• Trivia nights, car boot sales, fun runs, Easter party, open days, Mothers day, Fathers day.

10. Reach out to the local community

Reach out to the local community to create cross-promotion opportunities. Introduce yourself to local businesses, offer staff a special membership rate and ask if you can put flyers on the counter or front window. In exchange, create a banner with a list of local partners and offer a 10% discount to your members.

You could also invite the local shop owner to your open days and social events. They could set up a stall to promote their business in exchange for freebies.

This creates a win-win situation for everyone.

Conclusion

Often the simplest strategies are the most powerful. Do you think these strategies would work for your club?

Let us know what strategies have worked for you, and which haven’t.

OR, is there any other marketing tips that have worked for you?

References

For the full article go to http://www.marketingforgyms.com/top-10-marketing-tips-for-gyms/

Compiled & infographic created by Melanie Sarian for the Links Marketing Team